Mum to finally scatter ashes eight years on

A mum whose son died in a tragic accident hopes to scatter his ashes in Spain after buying a former monastery which she also intends to name in his memory.

Lucy Holt says up until now she has never found the right place to say her final farewell to her son Ben Murgatroyd who died in 2008, aged 20.

The monastery in Spain which Lucy Holt is to name after her son

The former Blackpool and The Fylde College student was found dead in a pond at his mother’s house on Mains Lane, Singleton, following a drinking session at Wardleys Hotel in Hambleton.

The premises was later barred from selling alcohol after it emerged its then licensee had allowed a lock-in to take place until dawn which Ben had taken part in.

Lucy, who runs Classic Cut hairdressing salons in Thornton and Cleveleys, said: “I have never spread Ben’s ashes as I wanted him with me, but this place is perfect.

“It is a monastery with its own shrine, and I intend to restore it.

It is in the mountains and is very beautiful

“We are also going to rename it Benalina in memory of Ben, which is a name my daughter Darcy came up with. I found it in May this year when I was staying at Benahavis.

“It is in the mountains and very beautiful.

“I am planning to live there and take Classic Cut to Marbella.”

Lucy says she has funded the purchase of the monastery by taking equity out of her businesses on the Fylde coast.

The salons here will continue to operate with Lucy putting managers in to run them while she is abroad.

Ben, who worked at Circus Casino on Queens Promenade, North Shore, had been allowed to drink at Wardleys after closing time along with six other people on November 8, 2008.

The group was left drinking until around 10am at which point landlady Karen Hallett gave Ben a lift home.

At an inquest, the cause of Mr Murgatroyd’s death was revealed as drowning, but toxicology tests showed the amount of alcohol in his urine would have put him four and a half times over the legal driving limit – which was described as “a potentially lethal” amount of booze.